Marshal (Black Templars)
Chapter]] A Marshal is a high-ranking officer and a Veteran Astartes who leads the individual Crusades of the Black Templars Space Marine Chapter. These ferocious Space Marines possess superb tactical abilities, second in experience to only the High Marshal himself. The purity and ultimate success of a Crusade is entrusted unto the Marshal and such a duty is a sacred and glorious responsibility. Only the most inspirational and determined warriors may rise to become a Marshal, after they have proved their courage and determination within the ranks of the Sword Brethren or as a Castellan (Captain) leading a Fighting Company of the Chapter. The Marshals are able to coordinate the Space Marines under their command and lead them and his Crusade to ultimate victory, whatever the opposition. History Within the chain of command of the non-standard Black Templars, Marshals serve as the highest-ranking officers beneath the High Marshal. They are great warriors who lead the individual Crusades. The purity and ultimate success of a Crusade is entrusted unto the Marshal and such a duty is a sacred and glorious responsibility. A Marshal is not only a warrior so deadly that he will rarely meet his match on the field of battle, but one whose expertise includes concerns beyond the battlefield, for the leading of a Crusade is a mighty task indeed. As a result, only the most inspirational and determined warriors may rise to become a Marshal, having long proved their courage and determination within the ranks of the Chapter. A Marshal is able to coordinate the warriors under his command and lead them and his Crusades to ultimate victory whatever the opposition. There are few heroes in the galaxy better able to wage war than the Marshals of the Black Templars. Notable Marshals Marshal wielding a Power Maul]] *'Marshal Brant' - Brant was the commander of the Solemnus Crusade that participated in the Third War for Armageddon. Marshal Brant was just returning from the Liberation of Lugnasad in the Apollo Sub-sector when the Orks of the Blood Scar Tribe attacked and sacked the Solemnus Chapter Keep out of which the Crusade had been based. For 12 years, Brant led the Solemnus Crusade in a quest for vengeance until they finally discovered the Blood Scar Tribe fighting alongside WAAAGH! Ghazghkull on the Hive World of Armageddon. The Solemnus Crusade immediately joined the battle against the Ork invaders and deployed several Fighting Companies to the wastes of Armageddon. *'Marshal Emrik' - Marshal Emrik was the founder of the Chapter Keep on Solemnus and commanded the Crusade that cleansed that world from a Genestealer taint. Emrik himself slew the Genestealer Patriarch and ended the xenos threat. His chapel-tomb resided within the Hall of Heroes of the Solemnus Keep. *'Marshal Folker' - Hailing from the world of Holscht, the boy that would one day become Castellan Folker presented himself before the Chaplains of the Black Templars bearing his father's sword and decalring himself ready to face whatever trials awaited him. Chaplain Burkarys determined that his warrior spirit was indeed strong and possessed of the ruthless edge required of the Black Templars. The journey through the drake-infested mountains to their Chapter keep would take over a week, through some of the most deadly terrain on the planet and it would be a test of the recruits' determination to survive. The journey was indeed arduous, even for the Space Marines, and many of the recruits did not survive the journey, falling into deep chasms, dropping dead of exhaustion or being devoured by fearsome mountain drakes. At last, the mighty gates of the Black Templars keep rose up before them like a basalt cliff, but as they drew close to the great fortress another pack of mountain drakes emerged from the rocks above and descended upon the recruits. Breaking into a run towards the gates of the Chapter keep, Folker knew that the drakes were too fast and the recruits could not outrun them. The bellowing drakes were almost upon them when Folker turned and stood before the monsters, slashing his father's sword through the throat of the nearest creature. The stricken drake fell to the ground and the pack set upon it, tearing it apart in a frenzy of claw and fang while ignoring the recruits, who passed safely into the Chapter keep. As the mighty gates slammed shut, Folker saw Chaplain Burkarys' approving stare and knew he would indeed become a Black Templar. To honour Folker's bravery, the Chaplain's artificers took his sword and crafted it into a weapon sheathed in a crackling energy field that could cut through the thickest armour. The weapon was presented to him upon his elevation to the rank of Initiate, and its is a weapon the Castellan bears to this day. *'Marshal Gervhart' - Gervhart was the leader who initiated the Second Purging of Lastrati in 543.M36, as a part of the Athalor Crusade. He was also a fearsome warrior and master tactician, and was a keen student of history, second only to the Chapter's archivists in his knowledge and understanding of the ancient days of the Imperium. He had studied the ways of war of every Marshal since the time of Sigismund and was well versed in the most arcane weapons and wargear. Gervhart was one of a rare few individuals who had the honour of treading the holy soil of Holy Terra, leading a pilgrimage of warriors through the teeming multitudes to the very gates of the Emperor's Imperial Palace where he conducted them in a month-long vigil to seek the Master of Mankind's blessing before setting out on the Athalor Crusade. Upon the carven outer wall of the Palace were many ancient bas-reliefs of the long-forgotten battles and ancient conflicts, which Marshal Gervhart studied intently, finding many images of what appeared to be warriors of the Black Templars in battle. One of the mightiest figures carried a crackling staff of office and Gervhart vowed to craft a new weapon in its fashion. Leaving Terra with his obeisance made, Gervhart did indeed forge such a weapon, a mighty Power Maul, and adapted his fighting style so that he could wield it together with his Combat Shield. The Hive World of Lastrati, located in the Ultima Segmentum, had become a place of pilgrimage, and for centuries, the faithful had come to bear witness to such spectacles as the Hill of Heretics and the Plain of Purity. Marshal Gervhart and the Black Templars of the Athalor Crusade had come to Lastrati to take heart from the planet's potent displays of faith from the past, but were horrified by what they found. The Quintarchs of Lastrati had turned to barbaric blood rituals and human sacrifices in search of genetic perfection. At first the Space Marines were welcomed as examples of genetic supremacy, but the more the Black Templars saw, the more they realised that the rituals of the people of Lastrati had too much in common with the heretical cult worship of the Ruinous Powers. Marshal Gervhart ordered the planet cleansed of its degenerate inhabitants before continuing the Crusade. After four standard years of fighting, the warriors of Marshal Gervhart forced the remaining forces of Lastrati back into the Plain of Purity where they made their last stand before the Black Templars at the Hill of Heretics. The army was destroyed, the Black Templars showing no mercy and accepting no surrender. Those deemed free from taint were allowed to live -- an act of mercy that was to have a terrible repercussion for Marshal Gervhart in later years. The infamous Gervhart Repeal of the 36th Millennium was the only time a High Marshal has repealed the promotion of a Marshal to that rank. Though his name is now synonymous with the Repeal of M36, Gervhart's power maul remains one of the Black Templars most revered relics. *'Marshal Ludoldus' - Much has been made of the true identity of Marshal Ludoldus as it is recorded that the same warrior fought in both the Vinculus Crusade and the Jerulas Crusade -- wars that were fought thousands of years apart. Portraiture of both Marshals certainly shows an uncanny similarity between the two warriors, but even Lord Dante of the Blood Angels, most long-lived of Chapter Masters, is but eleven hundred years old. Marshal Ludoldus who fought at the Battle of Fire and Blood took to the field of battle in a suit of archaic Terminator Armour and exemplified the Black Templars desire to take the light of the Emperor into the dark places of the galaxy. Indeed he carried a lantern said to have been blessed by the Blind Sisterhood of Luxvitas Binary that could pierce even the darkness of the Empyrean with its righteous light. The flame of the Black Templars zeal burned from a brazier atop his armour and served as a beacon to all his warriors that the fires of war should never be extinguished. Even Ludoldus's weapon, a combi-plasma gun spoke of his fiery desire to eradicate the shadows, and in the depths of the volcano in the Peleregon Cluster such a weapon was to serve him well. *'Marshal Ulliquel' - Commander of the Thunder Crusade who fought against the Dark Eldar and Alpha Legion during his recruitment mission to the Black Templars Chapter Keep on Cephia IV. *'Marshal Wernher' - Wernher joined the Donian Crusade in 985.M39 to combat the swelling Ork population sweeping through the Donian Sector and the surrounding wilderness space in the southern Segmentum Pacificus. The original Crusade Marshal, Brother Austein, was tragically killed in battle on the planet Nickel V, and was succeeded by Marshal Wernher in 988.M39. The Donian Crusade lasted for roughly 17 standard years before the High Marshal declared it successful in c.002.M40. Wernher went on to later become the Marshal of the Thangdorn Crusade. Wargear *'Power Armour' *'Terminator Armour (Optional)' *'Bolter' *'Bolt Pistol (Optional' *'Crusader Seals' - Crusader Seals are waxen or metallic tokens with vows of piety and Chapter blessings inscribed on hanging strips of parchment that are bestowed upon Black Templars Astartes of proven zeal and courage. *'Storm Bolter' (Optional for Marshals in Terminator Armour) *'Close Combat Weapon (Choice of Power Sword, Chainsword, Lightning Claws, Thunder Hammer, Power Fist; if chosen weapon is one-handed, a Storm Shield may also be used)' *'Frag Grenades or Krak Grenades' Sources *''Codex: Black Templars'' (4th Edition), pp. 15, 44 *''Deathwatch: Core Rulebook'' (RPG), pp. 38-39, 44 *''Index Astartes II'', "Righteous Zeal - The Black Templars Space Marine Chapter," pp. 44-55 *''White Dwarf Magazine'' 314 (UK), "Marshals of the Black Templars", pp. 96, 98, 100, 102 *''Conquest of Armageddon'' (Novel) by Jonathan Green ES:Mariscal (Templarios Negros) Category:M Category:Black Templars Category:Imperium Category:Space Marines Category:Titles